US will make Pakistan see IAEA issue in true light: Envoy

New Delhi, July 23 (IANS) Amid reports about a plan by Pakistan to block consensus in the IAEA over the India-specific safeguards pact, the US Wednesday said it will talk to Islamabad and hoped that it would see the proposed pact in “the right light”. “That is a particular issue which will have to be addressed. And we will do it,” US ambassador David C. Mulford told reporters when asked what he thought about reports suggesting Pakistan was creating hurdles in the path of approval of the safeguards pact at the IAEA board meeting set for Aug 1.

“We will talk and hope that they see things in the right light,” he stressed.

The IAEA secretariat will circulate the text of the India-specific safeguards agreement to all its members Friday before the board of governors to take a decision on approving the safeguards pact Aug 1 in Vienna.

Pakistan, a member of the IAEA board, has already raised objections to the proposed safeguards agreement that India has sought with the UN nuclear watchdog.

India has therefore stepped up its diplomatic efforts to ensure that Pakistan and other sceptics like Ireland do not force voting in the IAEA on the India-specific safeguards pact.

The voting in the IAEA, which only happens rarely - the last one being the vote on the Iranian nuclear programme two years ago, may embolden sceptics in the NSG to air their opposition. That is why India wants to doubly ensure that Pakistan’s designs do not succeeds and the board approves the safeguards pact unanimously.